MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1999 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Senator(s) Frazier, Horhn, Walls, Harden, Jordan (24th), Jackson, Turner

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION TO COMMEND THE LIFE OF AUTHOR AND EDUCATOR MARGARET WALKER ALEXANDER.

WHEREAS, Margaret Walker Alexander, author, poet and professor, was a native of Birmingham, Alabama; and

WHEREAS, she attended Methodist church schools in the South including Haven in Meridian, was a 1930 graduate of Gilbert Academy of New Orleans University, and received her bachelor of arts degree from Northwestern University in 1935; and

WHEREAS, she earned masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Iowa; and

WHEREAS, best known for Jubilee, her 1966 novel about slave life, her writing first appeared in Crisis magazine in 1934. In 1972, she received the Yale Award for Young Poets for her book of poetry, For My People; and

WHEREAS, in 1954, she was a Ford Fellow at Yale University and received a literary fellowship in 1968, a Fulbright Hayes Fellowship in 1972 and Senior Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Alexander was the author of nine books, including five volumes of poetry; she lectured at seminars and literary festivals throughout the country, and taught at Livingstone College, West Virginia State College, the University of Iowa, Northwestern University and Jackson State University, where she taught English; and

WHEREAS, Margaret Walker Alexander founded the Institute for the Study of History, Life and Culture of Black People at Jackson State and served as its director for eleven years; and

WHEREAS, the institute she founded was later renamed for her, as was a Jackson Public Library and the street, Margaret Walker Alexander Drive, on which she lived; and

WHEREAS, she received the Living Legacy Award from President Jimmy Carter and was inducted into the African American Literary Hall of Fame at her last public appearance in Chicago, and received the lifetime achievement award from Chicago State University; and

WHEREAS, she was a member of Central United Methodist Church, life member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons and a "Golden Girl" member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority; and

WHEREAS, she was the widow of Firnist James Alexander, Sr., to whom she was married 37 years, and is survived by her daughters, Marion Elizabeth Coleman and Margaret Elvira Williams and sons Firnist James Alexander, Jr. and Sigismund Walker Alexander; and

WHEREAS, one of her life missions was to help aspiring writers; and

WHEREAS, she did honor to Mississippi and to the nation; and

WHEREAS, it is the policy of this Legislature to commend the accomplishments of the citizens of Mississippi:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby commend the life and career of Dr. Margaret Walker Alexander, who lived a long, fruitful and giving life, and extend our sympathy of a grateful state to her family, relatives and friends, and all who are saddened by her passing.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be presented to her children and to the Capitol Press Corps.